Myths and Legends

Jason Weiser tells stories from myths, legends, and folklore that have shaped cultures throughout history. Some, like the stories of Aladdin, King Arthur, and Hercules are stories you think you know, but with surprising origins. Others are stories you might not have heard, but really should. All the stories are sourced from world folklore, but retold for modern ears. These are stories of wizards, knights, Vikings, dragons, princesses, and kings from the time when the world beyond the map was a dangerous and wonderful place.

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Sinbad (no, not that Sinbad) is probably the 3rd most famous story from a collection titled "One Thousand and One Nights". It's a story of loss, hardship, and redemption...and then partying so hard that you forget all that loss, hardship, and redemption and need to do it all over again. Six more times. On the plus side, it's not just about an out-of-touch rich guy being out-of-touch and rich, but being so while experiencing some pretty weird stuff.

The creature this time is an awkwardly hot squirrel thing who wants to cram a metaphor about pride down your throat.

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It seems like with a lot of fairy tales someone looked at the original, thought that there was absolutely no way they could tell that to a child, and re-wrote it to get rid of the shocking violence and general terribleness of every creature ever. "The Ugly Duckling" by Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen is no exception. It's shockingly violent and sad at times, but underneath its brutality and ridiculousness is a profound theme that still resonates today. Also birds are jerks.

The creature this time is the Loveland Frog. It's a large-ish frog from my hometown in Ohio. Ohio is so boring we can't even have a cool cryptid.

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Don't, under any circumstances, trust the Midas touch. The king of unforced errors, Midas is a well-known figure in mythology mainly because of horrible decision making and lack of foresight. They say any publicity is good publicity, and I hope that is the case for Midas, who took a bad choice and used it to propel himself to everlasting notoriety.

Mouse bears. The creatures this week are mouse bears. They have the ferocity of bears and the ability to sneak into your cupboards like mice. Needless to say, they're super annoying.

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Wrapping up this two-part series on Morgan le Fay, we'll see her devious schemes within schemes come to fruition with one aim in mind: killing King Arthur and seizing the throne for herself.

The creature this week is fish man, from Spain. He's kind of like a superhero if all superheroes did was lay around and drink wine at their parents' house.

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Hey, so Mother's Day is this weekend. As in three days from today. Still looking for something? You can show your mom you're thinking about her and you don't even have to look up from your phone. She doesn't have to know how easy it is and that it took basically no time. We won't tell her. We probably don't even know her. Unless this is Mike, in which case, hi Mike!

There are two excellent options:

Shari's Berries. Super easy. You know why? Because they somehow got the domain http://berries.com. They're delicious and they look fantastic. I got them for my mom on her birthday and my mother-in-law for Mother's Day. You can get her huge, freshly dipped berries starting at $19.99 plus shipping, and you can double the berries for $10. Just go to berries.com and use the code MAL when you click on the mic.

Or maybe flowers are your thing. Aren't you glad you listen to this podcast? We have you covered there, too. ProFlowers cracked the code on sending people fresh, beautiful flowers. Ours have been going strong for over a week - way longer than flowers from a supermarket or florist AND I am just realizing I forgot to change the water after three days like I was supposed to. They're that good. Check out http://proflowers.com and use the code MAL.

Both are so easy, that in the time you took reading this you could have Mother's Day wrapped up. We're just looking out for you. Also please don't forget to use code MAL it keeps the lights on.

All of those words describe Morgan Le Fay, King Arthur's half-sister. She is by far the most complex character I've come across in the Arthurian legends, but she's constantly portrayed in the medieval and early modern texts as a one-note traitorous baddy who is evil because she's an evil sorceress and evil sorceresses are evil. If you're familiar with the legends, you're going to see a Morgan you've never seen before. If you're not, get ready to meet one of the most interesting, tragic figures you'll come across.

Sponsors:

The Great Courses Plus: Go to http://thegreatcoursesplus.com/myths to get a free trial of The Great Courses Plus, and while you’re there, check out the course “Fundamentals of Photography."

Loot Crate: Here's the link for the Groot I was talking about. This 22" figure will be in the one mega crate sent out to a lucky subscriber. The rest of us will have to settle for a bunch of cool pop culture stuff worth twice what we paid for it. Darn. Check out http://www.lootcrate.com/legends code LEGENDS for $3 off any new subscription.